Lets start up today with this One pot meal. Chickpeas, quinoa, lentils, everything cooked together in a spinach puree, so you know you cannot take those green leaves out even if you wanted to. Serve as is, with crackers or bread. Top with Sriracha, peppers or cheese. Its just about 10 minutes of work in the kitchen, add to a pan, cooked and ready to serve in 25 mins! All of your protein in one bowl.
I have been bogged down with everything lately. I keep developing recipes all through the week and don’t get time to write them down properly. And whoever said writing a book was going to be all fun. Book proposals, the pre and post ambles, knowing exactly and being able to put into words, why writing one and what it is about. Yes, I am definitely not much of an organize your thoughts and put them on paper kind of writer 🙂 Oh well, we will learn on the job. All good things come with some extra work!
Make Chickpea Lentil Quinoa Spinach Stew!
More one pot meals
Lentil Kidney Bean chili topped with jalapenos and corn
Pumpkin black Eyed Pea Chili
Cremini Mushroom, Rainbow Chard, Shallots, Mac soup
Dahls that be served up with rice or grains
Steps:
Cook the onions until translucent. blend the Spinach and tomato. Add spiced to the pan and mix, add spinach puree , chickpeas, quinoa, lentils and water. cover and cook
Add cashews for garnish. Serve hot.
Love this recipe! Get my cookbook, Now Available Internationally!!
Chickpea Lentil Quinoa Spinach Stew
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (45 g) red lentils masoor dal
- 1/4 cup (42.5 g) quinoa
- 15 oz can chickpeas or 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas. safed chana
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 cup (60 g) red onion finely chopped or thinly sliced
- 1 mild green chili finely chopped
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) cinnamon powder
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) cardamom powder
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) cumin powder
- 2 large tomatoes
- 2 cups (60 g) packed of spinach add more for greener soup
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 inch ginger knob
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) black peppercorns or add black pepper later
- 2 cups (500 ml) water
- 1 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) raw sugar or other sweetener
- 2 Tbsp cashews chopped (omit for nut-free)
- pepper flakes lemon juice, cashews, cheese shreds for garnish
Instructions
- Wash and drain the lentils and quinoa and keep ready. Drain the chickpeas and keep ready.
- In a pan, add oil and onions and green chili and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Saute in broth to eliminate oil.
- Add the spices and mix well and cook for a minute.
- Meanwhile, blend the tomato, spinach, garlic, ginger, peppercorns with 1/2 cup water into a smooth puree.
- Add to the pan and mix well. Add the lentils, quinoa and chickpeas and mix.
- Add salt, sugar and 1.5 cups water and cover and cook for 20 minutes.
- Stir once in between. Add cashew pieces and mix in, taste and adjust salt and spice. Add water if needed for soupier consistency. Cook for a few minutes.
- Serve hot topped with red pepper flakes, cheese shreds of choice or cashew cream, crackers, flat bread or rolls.
Notes
Nutrition
Made this with the instant pot instructions. Only used 1 cup water instead of 1.5 and added the 1/4 cup of coconut milk. Absolutely delicious! Nice to get so much iron and protein in a low calorie meal.
So delicious! I am a new vegan looking for higher protein options without soy and this was delicious!
Perfect! Thanks for stopping by
Hi Richa (:
I can’t find organic spinach right now, and I prefer to buy all my greens organic. Do you think Swiss chard could work in place of the spinach?
Yes
This was absolutely delicious. I used up a mix of sad looking kale and spinach from last week’s veg box.
Apart from leaving out the onion (none in the fridge!) and halving they sugar, I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out brilliantly. I’ve frozen half and got some left for lunch.
This. Is. Amazing. I made this tonight… definitely doubled it for my family. Everyone loved it! Everyone including a three year old, a five year old, and a seven year old. This is a family favorite. Thank you!
Delicious and easy! Very glad I doubled everything so we can have it again tomorrow! Thank you!
Sooo delicious and healthy!!! I added half a head of chopped cauliflower with the lentils and it was tasty:) Great way to hide spinach from the kids. Even after 3 cups, it still looked more brown than green! Thank you!
🙂
Delicious and easy to make for a weekly dinner!
Can I substitute fresh spinach with frozen? How much should I use? Looking forward to trying this recipe out!
4 to 5 oz
Hi Richa,
This looks awesome and I ‘m planning on making it tonight! If I’m adding extra veggies to the dish when should I add them??
Thank you so much for your time and all of your great recipes!! We love them!!
With the water. Most veggies will need the 20 minute cooking time. For quick cooking veggies like thinly sliced peppers, peas, add in the last 5 minutes
Super easy and delicious! Will definitely make again.
awesome!
Looks AMAZING!! Could you make a recommendation on how to convert the cooking time in the recipe to make in an Instant Pot?
It would be faster to cook on the stove top as IP will take 10+ minutes to pressure and 15 minutes to release. You can cook it for 2 minutes on manual and then release the pressure after 5 to 10 minutes.
This was fantastic! I made it from your book which I bought to to have vegan base recipes that if need be can be ‘adapted’ to my meat eating family’s taste – hoping that your food would actually be so full of taste that we don’t need to adapt (and eat less animal products)! And it is! I also love that you often add lemon juice, right down my street.
yay! thats good to hear! happy Cooking!
Just did this yesterday and it was a hit! Even my picky 2-year-old loved it (He nearly licked his plate!) I added eggplant and it was truly delicious. I will undoubtedly do it again, thanks!
Awesome!
Made this tonight and it is very good. I added a bit of lemon juice at the end to brighten the flavour and about 2 tbsp of cashew butter to add a little creamy richness.
Hi Richa my name is Hansa i love all pezza recipe and checkpes quinoa recipe is very good my family love it think you so much i love to cook
This is the first recipe that I tried in your cookbook, which I received yesterday from Amazon. It is absolutely delicious. I followed your recipe exactly except used canned tomatoes instead of fresh, as fresh tomatoes are out of season where I live at the moment. I also replaced the spinach with kale. It turned out just fabulously, so spicy and flavorful. What I really like about this recipe as well is that it is loaded with protein, something that is really important to me as a plant based vegan. Really looking forward to trying out more of your recipes Richa. Already looking through the recipes in your cookbook, thinking of what I’ll make from it next weekend for my suppers at work.
Awesome! So glad you loved this. This one definitely quite packed with protein. You can adjust many of the other recipes with addition of mixed protein sources like this one too. Happy Cooking!
Of course you’re being followed, you have the best recipes ever! I’m a person of Italian descent but I love Indian food and flavors.
OMG I made this recipe from your book last night for diner. LOVE It. So Yummy. My family thought so too! I substituted collard greens for the spinach and it was delicious! Lunch leftovers are even better. Thank you!
yay!!
Hello! Today I will try your recipe!!
Do you use US (136ml), UK (184ml) or metric (250ml) cup?
Many thanks!
metric 240 ml
I found this recipe while trying to “clean out” our pantry of leftover ingredients (lentils, quinoa, etc.) and it turned out DELICIOUSLY!!! We actually had enough lentils to make a quintuple batch (yes, that’s 5x), so we will be eating it all week. Thankfully it’s so good that I don’t think we’ll mind. 🙂 Thanks for developing and sharing this recipe! 🙂
woah that is a big big batch! so glad you love it!:))
Made tonight and it was very good. I forgot to add the sugar but didn’t need it. I will definitely make this again. Thank you!
Congrats, Richa! The weather is awful over here and I keep my moral high up with warming stews – your recipe is definitely on my list!
I love this recipe! So did my sister, my parents and my bf. I added yams and nutritional yeast. I am so excited to have found this recipe as it will be one of my “go-to” recipes and one that I will be recommending to everyone.
Thank you Richa!
yay! i make variations of this several times a month too! so glad you love it!
Made this tonight and it was incredible! Thank you!
Didn’t have garam masala (think I subbed curry powder) but it still turned out amazing! Just discovered your blog a couple weeks ago and have been on a roll making your recipes- I love your blog. I like how your recipes seem to allow a safe degree of freedom and creativity- it’s perfect when you’re on a budge, don’t want to go to the store, or want to use something you have on hand (like the mushrooms I threw in this stew!). Thank you!
What a simple vegan update of some great indian cooking techniques!
Delicious dish! I subbed miso for the salt, and added kale and some good apple cider vinegar to balance it out and keep that nice green spinach colour intact.
Thank you Richa, you’ve made a dedicated follower!
Quick question Richa. Making this as I write. I assume in this step “Add salt, sugar and 1.5 cups water and cover and cook for 20 minutes.” you mean bring to a boil then lower and cook for 20 min? Thank you in advance for the clarification
its cooking at medium heat, so the stew will come to a boil around 5 to 7 minutes and cook for the next 15. it cooks best if left undisturbed for the 20 minutes. Check after 20 to see if you need to cook longer.
Richa, the flavors in this stew are sooo delicious and complex. I cannot wait to make this again once the fall weather comes around!
I know writing a book is soooo much work and time and it seems like it will never end but I promise you it will be worth every micro ounce of effort! Something to share and pass on down to generations to come! That’s why I’m so happy you’re doing a beautiful book, not just an ebook, so that I can have one to scribble in and doodle in and many more to give away as gifts. Many thanks Richa and hang in there! 🙂
I will take one hug and a bowl of this stew (which is making my mouth literally overflow with saliva right now–now that I write that, it doesn’t sound attractive but trust, it’s a compliment!) Congrats on all the success! It’s been wild watching you grow, girl. xo
Incredible dish. Thank you so much. I used one half of a date.
I plan on making this tonight. It sounds wonderful. I don’t have any sweetener other than some madjool dates. Would it be okay just to leave the sweetener out? Not sure how I can use dates in there. Looking forward to it… Thanks. 🙂
great! the sweet balances the spices very well. you can leave it out. or blend up half a date with the spinach puree.
Will use a bit of date. Thank you. 🙂
Congratulations on the Facebook milestone!!! Hard-earned and well-deserved–you rock 🙂
I am really looking forward to your cookbook Richa as I thoroughly enjoy your recipes! I made your easy spiced peas for dinner last night and loved them (even cold the next day cold for lunch!). I am looking forward to trying this dish – it looks delightful!
This looks amazing! I’m picking up spinach tonight and will be making this happen. Do you think you can substitute couscous for the quinoa?
Way to go, Richa!
Love the bright red splashes on this dish – beautiful, rich colors!
Yummy..
My boyfriend and I made this together today. We both really enjoyed it but used a hot pepper instead of a mild one for some added heat. We’ve definitely come to think of your site as one we can trust for recipes that are going to taste good when we make them 😀
Looks fabulous Richa and congrats on hitting 100k, woohoo! How exciting! I’ve only recently discovered your blog and I love it, so I’m not surprised at all. You have some scrumptious recipes. How exciting to be working on a book too!
What a timely post today. I had all ingredients on hand so I made this for lunch. It is WONDERFUL!!! I will absolutely be making this again. So easy, so delicious, and such a great source of protein. Thanks for yet another amazing recipe.
that is probably the quickest someone made a recipe! Awesome! I am so glad you did and loved it!! <3 <3
I didn’t know you were writing a book Richa!! Great news 😀
This stew looks so cozy and nourishing.
Thank you Emma! xx It will be long while though before it hits the stands:)
CONGRATULATIONS!!! you are a total rock star and deserve all of the good things. all of them. i cannot wait for your cookbook. it’s going to be magical <3
<3 you back Caitlin!. I hope so!